``I think this means if you take your message to voters and work hard, the voters will give you the opportunity to take your case to the state legislature,'' McCluskey said.

The race marked McCluskey's inaugural run for political office. The district, which covers southern and western West Hartford, as well as a small portion of southwestern Hartford, has been held by West Hartford's John Ritter, a Democrat who declined to run for re-election.

McCluskey works as a staff representative of the nurses' union at the University of Connecticut Health Center, and previously spent eight years as a lobbyist for the state police at the General Assembly

For Bonee, 50, Tuesday's defeat mirrored another loss in 1986, when he ran for the same House District seat and lost by only 522 votes.

Bonee, who said he ran a race ``for the working person,'' said Tuesday's loss was due to the strong Democratic hold on the district. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-to-1, with almost 6,400 registered Democrats, about 2,900 Republicans and 4,530 unaffiliated voters.

``It was just too much to cope with, especially with such a surprisingly high turnout,'' Bonee said. ``I had a real grass roots campaign, with local support and local contributions. My opponent was able to marshal statewide union support and massive phone calls and it apparently got people to vote for someone who moved back to town from New Britain to take the seat.''

McCluskey, a Conard High School graduate, shrugged off such criticism, saying ``the race was his to lose.''

Bonee's comments capped a somewhat contentious race for the open seat. The two candidates differed over fundraising and voting records.